I’ve been wanting to switch from the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem for a while. I bought an iPhone, which I quite liked and wanted to buy an apple watch. I decided to go for the SE as I have no reason for more.

But now I’m refunding it since apparently it doesn’t support an on screen keyboard even though I paid extra for the larger 44mm. But I have to pay EVEN MORE for a Series 9 to get a SOFTWARE FEATURE.

Why?! It’s not like it costs Apple any extra to put a bunch of pixels on a screen. Not being able to reply to texts is a crucial feature for me on the apple watch.

And no, dictation doesn’t cut it. It’s awful in my language and creates unnecessary noise. Scribbling is painfully slow and makes you look like an idiot. And of course whipping out your iPhone to write defeats the whole purpose.

On my Galaxy Watch 5 Pro (which despite its Pro name cost me about as much as the SE) I was able to install Gboard and use swipe type which lets me write multi word sentences pretty quickly. Don’t tell me that the 3 trillion dollar company can’t figure it out.

  • OphioukhosUnbound@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Hmm. That is strange. I don’t think of Apple as doing much artificial gating. This may be that (and I’m not opposed to charging for software), but it is notable that the Apple Watch keyboard does a lot of prediction. It works surprisingly well and clearly does a lot of guessing and prompting to deal with the fact that a finger is like 4 keys large. I don’t know much about the SE, but I wonder if they found the experience or be worse there. (If they’re going to give dictation it wouldn’t make a ton of sense not to give a keyboard if it were an option I’d think.)

    Question: what language do you speak that dictation works poorly in? Just curious. I only recently tried it (dictation) and I was blown away by how well it works in English.

  • techtom10@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    S7 and above is a bigger screen than the SE2. Why don’t you get a refurb instead? I bought a Stainless Steel S7 for £210

  • Serotonin-_-Dficient@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Ultra 2; keyboard is too small for my dainty fingers on the biggest watch. Voice text is far more accurate. You’re not missing anything on that feature one bit. There are totally reasons to get newer ones, but this is dumb.

  • webbyspidey@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Bro you bought the lowest end and cheapest watch that apple offers and you’re complaining that it doesn’t have the features of Apple’s highest end watches? nah…

  • gummy1000@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    On screen keyboard really isn’t as hype as your thinking it is, have the Ultra and I still find that trying to type on it to be a pain unless I’m sitting still and focus which at that point I’m just gonna pull out my phone.

  • Cerenia@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I bought the SE2. It doesn’t bother me the slightest it doesn’t have a keyboard. I’m not gonna write long essays to friends anyways. I just speak what I need to reply and it sends it. If I can’t speak because I’m in public I just grab my phone obviously… it’s not missing anything for me.

    Don’t be so quick to return it! Do you really need to text?

  • puzzlemann92@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Okay so the real reason is, according to Apple, the Series 7 which introduced the keyboard has more space for the keyboard.

    If you ask me, the actual reason is there are not enough features to differentiate the S7 from the S6, so Apple kept that feature exclusive intentionally. The AW starting from S5 through S9 has been mostly the same. You get some new sensors in newer models, some slicker bezels starting from the series 7, but not enough features from my point of view. I am still okay with a series 6.

  • Laketech@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I don’t completely disagree with you, but the fact is, if you want the full feature set. You just gotta pay for it.

  • mehgcap@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    It’s certainly annoying, and as far as I can tell, the only reason is to have a feature on the more expensive models. That said, you could try a used or refurb Series 7 or Series 8. Both of those will have the keyboard.

  • Sylvurphlame@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    The 41/45 mm models have a larger screen. While the 44 mm could handle the on-screen keyboard, the 40 wouldn’t do so nearly as well and they’re not going to have it missing from just one model.

    So you’re complaining about a software feature is directly tied to hardware considerations and justifiably absent.